There’s a few interesting observations we can make based upon this data and the intervening four year span between the two lists.

First, anti-anxiety medications like Xanax, Valium and Ativan remain some of the most commonly prescribed psychiatric medications. And it’s no wonder — they are fast-acting and have a short half-life, meaning their effects typically wear off in a few hours. Xanax remains the most commonly prescribed psychiatric medication.

Zoloft is one of the oldest SSRI antidepressants available, first introduced into the U.S. market in 1991 by Pfizer. It’s been off-patent since 2006 — for four years now. Despite this, it remains one of the most commonly prescribed antidepressants. Now that it’s off-patent, it’s cheap too.

The biggest gainer in the past four years has been Cymbalta, an antidepressant commonly prescribed for depression in the sub-class known as SSNRIs — selective serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors. I’m not quite sure what accounts for the 237 percent increase seen in Cymbalta prescriptions over the past four years, but that is by far the biggest gainer in the list.

A distant second biggest gainer — and probably of little surprise to anyone who hasn’t seen an ad for this medication — is Seroquel. Seroquel is an atypical antipsychotic that is prescribed for bipolar disorder and certain types of depression. Its prescriptions in the U.S. in the past four years rose 88 percent. Risperdal also showed big gains — 45 percent.

The biggest declines we see are drugs that have gone off-patent, including Wellbutrin (a decline of 73 percent in prescriptions) and Paxil (which didn’t even make it on this year’s list). Strattera — prescribed for ADHD — lost 42 percent of the prescriptions it had in 2005. And despite Zoloft’s strong showing in 4th place — down from 2nd place four years ago — it also lost 28 percent of its previous prescriptions.

Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 26 Apr 2010 Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved.

About John M. Grohol, Psy.D.

Dr. John Grohol is the founder & CEO of Psych Central. He is an author, researcher and expert in mental health online, and has been writing about online behavior, mental health and psychology issues -- as well as the intersection of technology and human behavior -- since 1992. Dr. Grohol sits on the editorial board of the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking and is a founding board member and treasurer of the Society for Participatory Medicine.